MSE News: David Cameron - We will give pensioners security and dignity

bilbo51

redux wrote: »

Hmm, I've now been able to access this using a different browser.

Heading in the direction of asking for a forecast online, I'm asked to sign up for a government gateway account.

Choose a password ...

It accepts any upper case letter, and any number, but for lower case letters it will only accept the letters a to o

I've never seen anything like this before.

Have I got another browser glitch, or some odd interaction with my Android tablet keyboard, or is this a true requirement?

That website is strange when it comes to passwords. I have to type my password into, for example, MS Notepad then cut and paste it into the password field. If I type it in directly, the field won't accept all the characters.


It's them, not you!

Waldorf_Statler

a government IT system that doesn't work properly? heaven forbid.

Waldorf_Statler

jimbo49:

"what about giving people a card proving their age, once retired, so that they dont pay tax on items bought?"

wasn't that another one from Labour's ministry of silly ideas called ID cards? i don't recall that going down so well. i actually thought it was a good idea (if it weren't to cost £800m over 10 years to implement, that is).

jamesd

Deleted_User wrote: »

What will the state pension be like for someone in their early 30s? ... Work till they drop?

For low paid PAYE workers a cut from about £190 a week under current rules for combined basic and additional state pensions to the flat rate of about £148. For slackers, a raise from the current basic state pension of £113.10 to the flat rate without the need to use means tested benefits to get there. Then predict what will happen over the next 40 years,

A 30 year old could by age 68 get a pension pot of £135,800 for net pension contributions of £50 a month using the 2018 auto-enrolment rates. That's enough to provide a pension income of £5,432 on top of the flat rate of about £7,700.* All these numbers in today's money,

Pension saving isn't just for the rich, it's for all workers and those who choose not to work, perhaps to raise children with the help of their partner, and can make a huge difference.

*UK stock market average return of 5% plus inflation then 4% of pension pot increasing with inflation taken as income. 4% employee net contribution, 3% employer contribution and 1% tax relief, so doubling the net employee cost to get gross £100 a month into the pension.

spratmum72

Its all very well mr cameron trying to seduce us in our latter years with what on the surface appears to be a significant increase in the state pension after 2016 but how does that old saying go " beware greeks bearing gifts" because what the tories are not telling us is of their plans to do away with national insurance in preference of a single tier tax system which would be approx 31%. Now, getting back to pensioners they do not pay national insurance but when the changes take place and NI is abolished for a single tier tax system of 31% given the current tax rate is 20 % pensioners will be 11 % worse off. Because they will be taxed at the same rate as everyone else. However the good news in this plan is only for the rich because they will be significantly better off as a result.

rdr

Funny he doesn't mention the approx £250k he has stollen from my civil service pension.

d-b_2

Having just turned 50 I have taken my work based pensions as lump sums which after tax enabled me to buy a 2nd hand Skoda. Very nice it is too. But I don't get a bus pass (most people think I do). I foresee bus routes being cut in 4 years time as they are not being used enough.
Although at one stage I had paid enough NI for a full pension, at old rates at aged 60, I now have 2 or 3 years to make up to get a full pension, new rates, once I am 66.
I tried getting a proper forecast online but was told I have to write in for it. Can't be bothered as the goal posts may well have moved in 6 years time.
What's the latest on partner's contributions counting towards a pension as was the case when most women stayed at home? I seem to recall that no longer counts?? Although it did at the time I was at home looking after kids.

Butterfly_Brain

How can we trust a government that has treated the sick, disabled and unemployed with so much contempt?

This is a scam to do people out of their pensions whilst forcing them to work longer.

Tories speak with forked tongues!

Chriso51

If 'we' can use our pension pots in any way we see fit do we expect some pensioners to 'spend' the money and then revert to what ever state aid remains?


The Government is introducing 'auto-enrolment' because many people did not plan to save for their retirement - will the same people show the same level of planning at retirement and miss-spend their savings?


My private pension is looking like very poor value for money at the moment (I only have two years left for it to recover). If I were to use 'drawdown', or some such strategy, it would probably last about five years - what would you do: Buy an Annuity, Use Drawdown to live comfortably for five years, Or buy a nice new car?

Cyberman60

rpc wrote: »

Red herring.

If you contracted out (as I did, although I will probably accrue almost enough contracted-in years to make a full pension) then you have a second pension pot instead of some of the state pension. It used to be called protected rights.

If you invested contributions yourself and sacrificed some state pension you can't really complain that you aren't getting the same state pension as someone who didn't take the money themselves. You haven't paid for the full state pension, so you don't get it.

Most people who contracted-out will be significantly better off than those who contracted-in.

What would be unfair is giving everyone the same pension when some have their contracted-out pot set aside and others don't.

Was I complaining ? I was simply explaining why the headline figure of 148.80 is a red herring. I am already retired so what I get, one way or the other will not make much difference. :eek: